Receivers take over Cooroy group

THE Cooroy Mountain Group - which includes Cooroy Mountain Spring Water - was placed in administration yesterday.

News of the administration followed a report in the Daily on Monday in which the group said it had been forced to call in experts to help it survive, and came only one day after the company insisted it was "business as usual".

The company, which employees between 70 and 100 staff and has operated from Cooroy Mountain since 1991, also includes Wimmers Soft Drink and Cooroy Mountain Transport.

On Wednesday, the group downplayed the significance of its administrative arm being placed in liquidation, saying its other companies were unaffected by the action.

Cooroy Mountain Services Pty Ltd went into liquidation on June 12 with debts of almost $1 million.

More than $850,000 of that amount is owed to the Australian Taxation Office.

"We urge Sunshine Coast residents to get behind a Sunshine Coast company and buy local products," a spokeswoman for the group told the Daily on Wednesday.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission records show the group's new administrative arm, Cooroy Mountain Shared Services Pty Ltd, was still registered as of yesterday.

Representatives from the group could not be reached for comment last night.

But previously the group blamed its financial woes on the economic downturn.